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Its not news to our readers that Kid Millions is one of this site’s favorite musicians, both as a member of site-regulars Oneida and as a solo artist under the moniker of Man Forever. We’ve chronicled Man Forever from their days as a team of drummers, through the addition of accompanying musicians, to its present incarnation. For the latest album, Kid compiled a roster of prime musicians and created a work of great imagination and invention that truly transports Man Forever to it ultimate fruition. Play What They Want (Thrill Jockey) is more than just a collection of Kid’s friends — Laurie Anderson, Yo La Tengo, and Mary Lattimore included — its a realization of a career of the scene’s ultimate percussionist as composer. The album is a musician at the peak of his compositional talents.

For the album’s release show at the most-appropriate setting of the Brooklyn Music School, Kid Millions brought together many of the album’s players (but none of the celebrities) as a profoundly talented orchestra. Among the many players too numerous to list in its entirety, there was the percussion group TIGUE, the harp of Brandee Younger, the vocals of Nina Dante and Nick Hallett, and the lively lead bass of Brandon Lopez. Kid introduces everyone on the recording and rest assured that this compilation of talent is truly remarkable. The band worked through three of the tracks from Play What They Want and one older piece in a well-paced set of material that touched on elements of jazz, prog and drone and highlighted the natural rhythmic talents of its protagonist.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps mounted in front of the stage and mixed with a superb soundboard feed provided by the talents of house FOH Ben Manley. The result is an outstanding capture with depth and clarity. Enjoy!

After guitarist and vocalist Clara Hunter Latham of the Brooklyn band Starring moved to the same small Massachusetts town as Oneida’s Bobby Matador, it was inevitable that the two would get together and play some music. The band New Pope has evolved from that relationship and two weeks back the band made the trip south and played their first ever shows in NYC, an afternoon show at Trans Pecos opening for Fox Millions Duo (recording here) and later at the Oneida potluck show at Secret Project Robot (recording here). At Pecos, the band was a four-piece accompanied by a second keyboard and violin and performed a thirty-five minute set consisting of four songs. The first three tracks are key-based psych but the fourth song has Clara’s guitar out front in an almost surf-rock style. For the late show at SPR, New Pope was joined by Kid Millions on drums and the set took on a different feel — more driving and less spacey. Both sets prove that New Pope is a band with great personnel and great potential and we hope that they make more trips to NYC in the future.

I recorded the Pecos set with the Schoeps mounted in front of the stage and mixed with a board feed of primarily vocals. Eric recorded the SPR set with the AKGs in front of the board and mixed with a board feed. Both sets sound quite excellent. Enjoy!

Fox Millions Duo is in many ways an inevitable joining of talent. Greg Fox and Kid Millions are undoubtedly two of the most talented and ingenious percussionists alive today — and they also happen to both be incredibly prodigious and work within the same general musical circles. Both have appeared on the pages of this site dozens of times in many different configurations. Indeed, it was the 2012 NYCTaper 5th Anniversary concert where Greg Fox joined Millions and Oneida onstage for the first and, until later on this evening of this show, the last time. But it wasn’t until the 2014 recording sessions and the 2015 release of Lost Time (Thrill Jockey Records) that the Fox Millions Duo became a reality. Lost Time was released this Summer, but an actual live performance of the Duo is a rare event. So this past weekend, a recently booked afternoon show at Trans Pecos gave us the opportunity to catch the two together. Interestingly, the performance did not include any of the album’s material but was instead a single piece that is essentially a work in progress. The two were seated at a single snare drum in a similar configuration to Millions’ Man Forever project, but with an added wrinkle. Fox attached what appeared to be a guitar E-bow to the outside of the drum and thereafter through a cable to his laptop. The result was the activation of a sound sample upon each beat. I’ve titled this interesting number “E-bow Piece”, but in reality it is an untitled work that gives us great anticipation of a future Fox Millions release.

I recorded this set with the Schoeps cards at the front of the stage and mixed with a fine board feed. The interesting aspect of this recording is that the mics were primarily the drum beats while the board is primarily the E-bow samples. I’ve mixed the two sources to capture the music as it sounded in the center of the room. The result is quite excellent. Enjoy!

Tigue is the Brooklyn-based percussion trio composed of Ohio transplants Matt Evans, Amy Garapic, and Carson Moody. While the whole trio has participated in Kid Millions’ Man Forever project, each member also has some impressive extracurricular affiliations that include—among many others—Evans and Moody with Ensemble Signal, and Garapic with So Percussion and David Byrne. Tigue have recently completed their first LP, Peaks, which was funded via a successful Kickstarter campaign. That record is still forthcoming, but with Kid Millions producing and guest spots from Ira Kaplan and James McNew of Yo La Tengo, the impending release of Peaks is highly anticipated.

Opening for the duo of Kid Millions and Chris Brokaw at Secret Project Robot, Tigue gave us a preview of what to expect to hear on Peaks. For those new to Tigue, like I was, the songs are perhaps surprisingly pop-oriented—certainly not the classical or esoteric sounds that hearing the phrase “percussion ensemble” might conjure. Instead, it’s something like percussive drone-pop, highly accessible and engaging. Their set is performed entirely as a single piece with subtle divisions between the songs, best understood as part of a highly evolved whole rather than by its individual elements. And surely, you could say the same thing about the performers who are clearly highly tuned to each other’s frequencies. I can only expect and hope that once I hear the album proper, I’ll be let in on the full scope of Tigue’s craft. After the dramatic transition between “I Don’t Think You’re Listening” and closer “Ripped,” you’ll no doubt hear the yelp of a passionate audience member finally unable to contain his enthusiasm. In response to that guy: I couldn’t agree more.

I recorded this set with the AKGs set up approximately in the center of the room and pointed at the stacks. The sound and performance are both excellent. Enjoy!

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

Tigue
2015-03-11
Secret Project Robot
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

The rabid fans of a classic old band used to say “it doesn’t matter what they play, but how they play it”. The modern day version of Oneida fits this phrase exactly. In their 17th year as a band, Oneida has settled in well as a five-piece band that literally plays with no conventional boundaries. As their recent albums have eschewed traditional song structures, their contemporary concerts don’t really have “setlists” as much as the band just plays. Last fall, we captured an Oneida show at Glasslands that essentially consisted of one “song” and an encore. The show on Friday at Knitting Factory was over an hour and consisted of four separate tracks that weren’t seemingly so much songs as extended musical interplay between the individual members of the quintet, the penultimate of which lasted longer than thirty minutes. That being said, the attraction of the present incarnation of this amazing band is the musicianship. Kid Millions is perhaps the greatest living drummer and his indefagitable work behind the kit is always a wonder to behold. On this night we spent much of the time watching the interplay between the dual guitars of Baby Jane and Shahin Motia, who sometimes take a supporting role but on this night spent much of the set trading furious lead segments. As they approach their second decade as a band, Oneida continues to amaze with their inventiveness and we are certain to see them every time possible when they play locally — which is generally only a few times a year.

I recorded this set with the Sennheiser cards on a stand back near the soundboard and mixed with an excellent feed provided by house FOH Rob. The sound quality is quite excellent, enjoy!

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

There are many reasons that we go and record as many as possible of the Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows at Maxwell’s every year. Two of those reasons are the amazing guests and also a chance to see our favorites of the band’s songs. On Night 4, both of those reasons were realized. “Mushroom Cloud of Hiss” is always one of those manic closing songs, and we’re excited every time it pops up on the setlist. On this night, it didn’t disappoint. But it was the added bonus of having friend of the site Kid Millions (Oneida, Man Forever) play the whole set including the monster “Mushroom Cloud”. Kid’s drumming is known for his aggression and tirelessness, but it was also during the quieter numbers when his proficiency shone. The show was enhanced by his presence, but the band themselves also kicked it into the next gear with a raging T-Rex cover and a series of high level performances.

I recorded this set in the exact same manner as previous nights and the sound quality is equally superb. Enjoy!

Tonight’s show was a benefit for Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corps. As with all of Hoboken’s first responders, they could use your help this holiday season. We ask that if you download this show, you contribute to the charity. Although you are not required to donate to the charity in order to download this show, Yo La Tengo would greatly appreciate it if you would.

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

On Friday night, Oneida performed their new album Preteen Weaponry for the first time in NYC and the scene could not have been more surreal and yet completely appropriate. As the black rain clouds hovered overhead and the holiday crowd filtered in and around the Seaport, Oneida dipped into their bag of magic tricks and pulled out the most psychedelic prog-rock music they have produced to date — an album with influences from A Saucerful of Secrets to Bug — that could have been appropriately performed in 1968, 1988 or 2008.

As Bobby rose from his keyboard seat to strap on the bass for much of the Preteen set, the center stage of the band shifted to Kid Millions. The keys and guitars set the mood for the album and sustain the long-form melodic structure, but its the drums that are the lead instrument on this album. Kid propels the band while beating relentlessly in double time. Each part of Preteen molds directly into the next, but it is the consistent perfection of the beat that provided the backbone for this outstanding performance.

We recorded this set from a fine position inside of the soundboard tent, and we are quite grateful to the excellent sound crew for the permission to get under their tent and avoid the rain. We are doubly fortunate that the wind did not hamper this recording and we were able to capture this excellent concert with a superb recording. Enjoy!

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